Juan Miguel R.

Garcia
BS-Architecture 2A
To Kill a Mocking Bird

To Kill a Mocking Bird was written by

Harper Lee which was published on the 11th
day of July 1960, the book is about stages of
growing up. The book has many different
genres to associate with but the most
suitable genre is the bildungsroman.
Bildungsroman is a German word which can
be broken in English as “bildungs” which
means education and “roman” which means
a novel. So, it really means that the main
character gains education throughout the
entire duration of the story. Bildungsroman in
English is also called Coming-of-age which
is usually the main character or the
protagonist of the story are children. In the
story the main character of the book is Scout
Finch. It takes place between 1933 – 1935 in Maycomb Alabama She lived with her father
named Atticus Finch who is a lawyer, her brother Jem and their black cook. At the
beginning of the story there is also a friend introduced who is with Scout playing outside
named Dill.

The society portrayed in the lives of Jem, Scout, and Dill is racism. During that
time, most of the people in Maycomb were racist and discriminatory. Throughout the
story, the main character learned a lesson from her father and from her own experiences.
An example of this is Arthur “Boo” Radley, he is a neighbor across the street of Scout
which is described as a ghost by the neighborhood because he has never stepped out of
their house for some quite of time. They picture him out as a scary person that he is ugly
and eats children that he caught so they were all afraid of him. The real story behind Boo
Radley is that he got trouble with the law for being reckless of his action when he was a
teenager so his father decided to lock him inside their house. There is a part of the story
that he leaves present for the kids outside their house where they play. This action of Boo
Radley shows that he isn’t exactly what the neighborhood thinks about him. A lessoned
learned in this part of the story is never quickly judge anyone without putting yourself in
others shoe. The social factor being portrayed by Boo Radley is fear, because he is
reclusive in his actions, he disobeyed rules, but it turns out that Boo Radley is a kind guy,
this points out that, like Boo Radley, we must not judge people by its looks, before we
judge; we must look into his/her deeper personality in order for us to know who he/she
really is.

The next part of the book is about Tom Robinson, he is a black man accused of
raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell. Scout’s father Atticus Finch was placed as
a lawyer for Tom, he is determined to win over the jury even though he knows that it is
impossible defending a black person because if racism. On the other hand, Scout and
Jem was being mocked by other children because of their father defending the case of
the black guy. Atticus wants to teach his children to keep your feet on the ground and
hold on whatever belief even when you know you won’t win. For him it is what real bravery
means. After the trial was held it turns that Tom was convicted on the case. This shows
how distorted the world can be that even the justice system is biased. The racism showed
in the book is really present in our current situation.

The real-life example of this is the recent police brutality that is being campaigned
for “black lives matter”, the freedom of black people is not the same with the white. Black
people are always associated as bad guys, drug lords, criminals, and all the negative stuff
that are being assumed of them. They are not treated the same as what the white people,
they cannot enjoy the perks of life that the whites have.

The title To Kill a Mockingbird has a metaphor meaning, mockingbirds don’t do

anything harm, all they do is make music, it is a metaphor of innocence, someone weak
and defenseless. To kill a Mockingbird means taking advantage of someone or
something, according to Atticus, mockingbirds are one of the Gods fragile creatures that
bring only happiness to humans and should be protected, rather than persecuted.

The poor in our society resonates the mockingbird, because they are the ones who
are treated as low class in our society, people look at them as servants or the ones who
are less fortunate. They discriminate them through the way they look, skin, and the way
they act, even though they are less fortunate people, they must be treated equally and
the same as other normal people, it is not their fault that they are born like that. Like
mockingbirds, they didn’t do anything wrong, they just want to live their lives and to be
happy, instead of discriminating these people, we must help them in order to enhance
their lives and to live a prosperous one.

I have read the book quite a long time ago but it really gave me lessons to ponder.
It made me realize how bad the world can get especially when it comes to power, greed,
money, possessions, and social ranking. I loved how the author addressed the racism
and connects it to what is really happening. Even as of now, 2020, the book written by
Harper Lee is still relevant even though it was published decades ago.

No one is really ready for what lies ahead, nobody knows what to expect for the
future lying ahead. I can relate this to the pandemic Covid-19, nobody expected this even
the future teller or feng shui told that 2020 will be the year for business but it turned out
the other way around. It has been almost 3 months of quarantine and there are a lot of
things happening all around the world. Our lives have been delayed for quite a long time,
economies are crashing and people only depend on their government.

I will end this with a quote from the story, “Things are never as bad as they
seem”. Always look for the bright side no matter what happens, always give thanks for
the blessings you have received regardless of the size, and always thank your God for a
brand-new day for you to live.